A lot of people took cover from the tornado that hit the Chattahoochee Valley Sunday night, and your "safe place" was different for different families. We have dramatic personal stories and tips on what to do for the next severe storm.More >>

COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - Diligent efforts to clear streets have paid off. Most of 13th Street is now open. In north Columbus, the Georgia Department of Transportation will be resurfacing Veterans Parkway.More >>

COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -- Jim Stefkovich, the Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service in Birmimgham toured the tornado damage in Phenix City and Columbus today.

He said, "What we've come up with is that we do have a tornado, it's ranked EF-2 on the scale, and that's winds of 120-130 miles per hour."

This is the same ranking as the tornado that hit Columbus on March 1, 2007. The damage this time around wasn't as bad.

Stefkovich explains, "When we rank tornadoes, we look for the maximum rating and the maximum width, but it's rare that a tornado is that width and that intensity for the entire length."

This tornado was no different, with the worst damage occuring in Phenix City near Valley Lanes and wind speeds dropping off once the tornado crossed the river into Columbus.

In order to give the tornado a ranking of EF-2, Stefkovich found clues not only in structural damage, but in the trees as well. He said, "We looked at large trees being uprooted and a lot of hardwoods. We also saw some very large pine trees that were snapped at the base, and it takes a lot more wind to snap a tree at the base than to push a tree over."

(AP Photo/Jennifer Kay). Six crosses are placed at a makeshift memorial on the Florida International University campus in Miami on Saturday, March 17, 2018, near the scene of a pedestrian bridge collapse that killed at least six people on March 15.

A matter of seconds between those who would live and those who would die as Florida pedestrian bridge topples down highway bustling with passing vehicles.

Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested.

(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP). FBI agents work the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 18, 2018. At least a few people were injured in another explosion in Texas' capital late Sunday, after three package bombs detonat...

Officials reported that an explosion in southwest Austin injured two men in their 20s who were hospitalized with injuries that didn't appear to be life-threatening.